


No More Wild Fires

by PAW_07



Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Fics [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Air Army, Alternate Universe, Ba Sing Se, Background Character Death, Background Genocide, Crazy Azula (Avatar), Destroyed Fire Nation, Hidden Firebenders, Tea Server Zuko, The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-26 13:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21374644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PAW_07/pseuds/PAW_07
Summary: The war took a different turn when Sozin had tried to wipe out all of the air-benders a hundred years ago. Fire cannot burn without air nor when it is smothered in the earth or drowned in water. There are so few fire-benders left in the world when everyone’s trying to get their pound of flesh.
Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535558
Comments: 27
Kudos: 404





	No More Wild Fires

Smother, deadened, and drained of its heat,

A fire is thought dead except for the red embers it leaves.

…

Zuko tried not to twitch as a Dai Li agent took a seat in the tea shop. Oddly, his company wasn’t another agent. The man with him had a long braid like any other member of the Dai Li, but there was this regal-arrogant air about him. Zuko had never met this man but he knew who he was on sight: Long Feng.

His breath wanted to come in panicked bursts as he stared at the green-clad figure. He wanted to scream at his uncle and the two serving girls, Mia and Ty Lee, that they were discovered. That they should take his mentally unhinged sister and run. Why else would such a dangerous man, the Grand Secretariat, be here?

It was a well-known whisper that Long Feng believed that there was to be no war in the walls of Ba Sing Se. And the descendants of the Fire Nation only brought war in their wake ... or, more accurately, the Air Army followed after them. 

The Air Army was a military power that formed from the remnants of the Air Nomads. Honestly, no one blamed the air-benders for their radical change of mindset. After all, the Fire Nation had used Sozen’s comet to destroy their temples and seemingly end the Avatar's line. Thus, the air-benders that had been wandering the world during the destruction, had decided with a religious vigor that the world needed to be cleansed. And so, the Air Nomads became the Air Army and started a campaign for revenge behind the banner of spiritual purity.

Some might have disagreed that not all of the fire-benders needed to die, but the surviving air-benders had proclaimed that Fire Lord Sozin had polluted the spiritual connections of every fire-bender alive. He'd probably pollute the spiritual purity of the entire world now that there wasn't an Avatar to balance it. Anyone that stood behind that man's beliefs ... had to go.

It was a long battle after the victory of Sozen’s comet. Some said that it was because air can steal fire’s breath and others said it was because the spirits of the world supported the Air Army's crusade. Most people believed the air-benders were right because never had an Avatar died so young. In fact, they never found the young Avatar’s bones, but he was most certainly deceased because he never came forward to restore the balance. 

The bridge between the worlds was gone.

In fact, the lack of the Avatar's rebirth was the final nail in the coffin for the Fire Nation. The other elements decided that the Air Army's vendetta was everyone’s problem. They needed to dispose of this growing corruption in the world before it destroyed _everyone_.

And so, the siege of the Fire Nation continued, the attacking forces now far more diverse. The war lasted for almost seventy years but finally, the capital collapsed and the mass genocide of the fire-benders began: except for a few servants and the Fire Lord’s heirs. The soldiers had all but sacrificed themselves as their royalty escaped.

From a whole city, less than one hundred fire-benders escaped.

After abandoning their homeland, the royals tried to set their roots elsewhere. As Ozia grew older, he became adamant about bringing their nation’s pride back. He even stole his eldest brother’s title and took a small band of willing fire-benders to kill off the Air Army's military leader. 

Lu Ten had followed, trying to bring them back.

None of them were ever heard from again though their fires could be seen on the mountain tops from miles away.

This only stoked the storm and the air-benders lashed out once more, finding and destroying the small settlement that the fire-benders had built, crippling the gathered population. They killed Ursa as she tried to protect her daughter, mentally destroying the young girl, while the Dragon of the West tried to hold the whole army back on his own. He got maimed for his troubles. And Zuko, who had barely been eleven, had tried to take up the reins as Prince. He, in turn, had gotten a scar across half of his face. One of the air-benders had bounced back his fireball with a wall of wind. The air-bender obviously had been hoping to kill him. 

In a way, the Air Army had ended the Fire Nation's royal line that day, because Zuko is no longer a prince. He was a young man that serves tea, Iroh is merely a gifted tea maker and Azula is a broken girl they hide from the sun.

Shaking off his thoughts, Zuko put on a bland expression and asked in a dry and almost bored tone worthy of Mai, “Thanks for coming to the Jasmine Dragon, what do you want?”

The agent almost snorted at Zuko’s tone. Long Feng didn’t seem entirely as amused though.

“Do you always greet all your customers that way? It is a wonder you are still employed. This tea shop is supposed to be highly regarded. Why would they hire someone with your,” Feng was careful with his next words, his gaze obviously on Zuko's golden eyes, “_attitude_ is a disgrace. Has the owner no standards?"

Zuko put on a false smile, taunting the man almost as he continued in his drawl tone, “Owner has to. He’s family.”

Long Feng turned up his nose and pressed down the fabric of his uniform before adding in almost a whispered tone, as if not directed to anyone but more than welcomed to be overheard, “Well, it’s best not to keep such an attitude in this fine establishment, especially with the _Avatar_ coming to visit Ba Sing Se. Apparently, the Avatar was never dead. He merely was in an iceberg for a hundred years. And, regardless of what his _handlers_ say, he is now looking for any remnants of the Fire Nation. Not that there are any here in my city. Yes? So, it’s best to keep your manners. After all, he is the Air-bender's Avatar. It would be wise not to enrage him for there _never_ will be war in Ba Sing Se.”

Zuko tried not to sneer. It may have been just a lie or an idle threat, but it might not be. It was hard to tell with the Dai Li.

“Noted. I’ll make sure Uncle gets in some flavors air-benders would like. Now, what would you like, … _sir_?” asked Zuko with a frown, trying to be a little more cordial.

Long Feng put on a greasy smile, one that said he knew far too many secrets, his tone almost a purr, “See, what a nice improvement. Now, I’ll have the house special and I’m sure my agent would like ginger.”

“Good choice,” stated Zuko as he slowly turned, adding, “And don’t worry about me causing trouble, _sir_. I’m just a simple tea man and that’s all I’ll ever be.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wish I could continue this idea. I had some wondrous plans for it, such as a mentally unstable sister (Azula) who stresses Zuko out all the time as he tries to keep her erratic fire-bending under wraps. He also has to help rule a small population of fire-benders while hiding them from air-benders in plain sight. Then there is the seemingly harmless reawaken of Aang and his visit to the city. Plus, the Dai Li aren't ignorant. But, alas, I don’t have the time. I have too many other multi-chapters that require finishing. Regardless, enjoy the plot-bunny.


End file.
